Iranian Journal of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine

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Documentation of accepted ethical behavior in special settings is one of the strategies employed to foster ethics in organizations. Such documents, known as codes of ethics, vary in different societies according to their cultural and ideological differences. Medical educators have dual professional roles (as physicians and teachers) that sometimes seem ethically incompatible. Therefore, having codes of ethics is essential in this profession. The aim of this study was to develop codes of ethics for clinical medicine educators with an Islamic-Iranian approach. This was a three stage developmental research. First, a comprehensive literature review was conducted. Using content analysis method, the first draft of a code of ethics for clinical medicine educators was prepared. Second, the draft was thoroughly and critically reviewed and revised in experts’ focus group discussion and the 2nd draft was devised. This was further reviewed by a group of 24 experts at the national level (validated) and revised according to their comments, and thus the 3rd draft was prepared to be presented for formal approval process. The final document includes 55 codes of ethics in 18 topics (conscientiousness, accountability, respectfulness, scientific excellence, respect for others’ freedom, equity, patience, religious commitment, modesty, trustworthiness, humility, contentment, relationship with coworkers, attentiveness toward patients, attentiveness toward learners, kindness, confidentiality, and discipline). It seems that extracting ethical concepts from the rich Islamic-Iranian cultural resources is feasible, and provides an appropriate basis for the development of ethical codes for medical educators. Compared to Western codes, such codes may be better accepted in Iranian contexts and will be implemented more readily if the organizational settings are prepared simultaneously.

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Ali Afzal Ghate’ Ghazvini was a renowned physician, scholar, and calligrapher of the Safavid era whose personality and efforts in the field of medicine have not been fully recognized thus far. Among his works, three medical treatises can be of use in researching the medicine of the Safavid era. The present article adopts a descriptive-analytic method to introduce one of these treatises, Favaed-al-Afzalieh, and present a survey of its content in addition to the author’s biography. The findings here are based on the three chapters of this medical classic, which indicates the encyclopedic nature of this treatise. Favaed-al-Afzalieh reveals details on a variety of practical medical issues prevalent in the Safavid era, and is considered outstanding due to the volume of all the medical information it contains. The present study discusses the standing of this treatise in the history of medicine along with a suggestion to revise and publish this valuable, comprehensive work and reintroduce it to the world of medicine.

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The nature of human dignity is among the most basic queries about the essence of humanity, and research in this area can produce results that may be applied to various health related topics. There is a need for defining comprehensive criteria for the bio-human in order to protect human rights and other values that are attributable to human biology.The present paper first attempts to determine whether abstraction is the base of human dignity, as opposed to contraction. The authors argue that the former may not be the case, as dignity is value-based and therefore implicates moral orders. Such issues cannot be abstracted from external existence, so one can assume contraction to be the base of human dignity. In that case, contraction requires a contractor or an origin for contraction. Self-contracted values are invalid and worthless, and by the same token, external existences are incapable of dignity. Therefore, a stable contractor is required to justify stability and the native essence of contracted dignity, and only God can be that stable, conscious, senior contractor.Among the criteria for dignity, the authors focus on those essential characteristics that differentiate humans from other organisms, and argue that these could be considered as the basis for dignity.

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The criteria for human dignity are among the most important topics associated with the concept. Some related questions are what makes man worthy of dignity, and what properties make him more dignified than other creatures? Although biological classifications of species should be considered in humanities, research on dignity must focus on differences that are fundamental and separate humans from all other species. Morphological, genetic and communal differences cannot be the criteria for dignity, and behaviors are subject to individual outlooks. This manner of reasoning guided scholars to categorize humans on the basis of wisdom, but the author of the present article believes that wisdom cannot be the criterion for dignity. There is a degree of intelligence and wisdom in other creatures that is not sufficient to make a fundamental differentiating factor. Like other faculties, wisdom may be regarded as an instrument for a better life. The authors believes that the “authority” to choose (that is, free will) is the essential difference between humans and other creatures because the latter are driven only by their structures or needs. This authority enables people to choose between good and bad or desirable and undesirable, and shapes most human values. Consequently, this authority creates the basis for dignity and any given type of choice passes its value on to the chooser.

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Organizational spirituality is a modern topic of discussion in the field of organizational behavior. Iran compared to the world has more spirituality level so the responsibility of the management researchers for using this value tools to solve organizational problems has decreased. Providing peace of mind alongside comfort and convenience for hospital staff greatly affects their competence and will naturally influence the quality of service. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between spirituality and professional burnout among the hospital staff in Ardebil. This descriptive-analytical study was conducted on the staff of Ardebil hospitals (3 public hospitals, 1 private hospital and 1 veterans’ hospital) selected by sampling. Data were collected using the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) and a Spiritual Leadership Questionnaire. The reliability of the questionnaire was confirmed through Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient at 0.95. Finally, data were analyzed using the SPSS 20 software, t-test, ANOVA, Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis statistical tests.

The results showed the mean of spiritual leadership among the staff of public, private and veterans’ hospitals to be 3.51 out of a possible 5, indicating a good spiritual condition. Spearman’s Rho test results showed a significant negative relationship between spiritual leadership and professional burnout of the staff (P < 0.05). Moreover, professional burnout among the subjects was calculated at 43.2%, indicating a medium level.

In conclusion, spiritual leadership and its dimensions were found to be above average, thus indicating favorable conditions. Considering the importance of spiritual leadership and its relationship with burnout, managers should strengthen all dimensions of spiritual leadership in hospitals to create an environment without conflict and reduce burnout to improve efficiency.